Austrian Parliament May Offer Citizenship to Descendants of Holocaust Victims

It was a promise that former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) first formulated in an interview with The Jewish Chronicle on November 9, 2018. Kurz vowed to “give all children and grandchildren of Holocaust victims the opportunity to become Austrian citizens if they want to.”

So far, citizenship was available only to Holocaust victims and former Austrian citizens who fled the country due to Nazi persecution prior to or during World War II. Austria’s strict stance on dual citizenship complicated matters further. Kurz’s promise was welcomed by Jewish associations and civil society, yet for the first two years(Since Nov 9, 2018??) of the center-right government’s rule, it was put on the backburner.

An opposition motion to expedite the matter in February 2019 was voted down by MPs from the ruling Conservatives (ÖVP) and Freedom Party (FPÖ) – not an unusual occurrence per se, but perhaps an indication that the coalition had not quite found consensus on giving second- and third-generation Holocaust survivors the right to obtain Austrian passports. At the time, Interior Minister Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) promised a government proposal by the end of the year.

And now Parliament seems set to tackle the issue of citizenship for Holocaust victims’ descendants, even before the new elections on September 29. One of the architects behind the effort was Stephanie Krisper, MP for the liberal NEOS, who first tabled a draft citizenship law in November 2018. It was voted down in committee, as was an SPÖ motion in plenary the following February. Yet for Krisper, it also had unexpected consequences.

Support From Around the World

Letters of Holocaust victims’ children and grandchildren from around the world have been reaching Krisper since she stepped up her advocacy. One British woman wrote that her grandmother had to flee Austria in 1938, while her sister, who didn’t make it out, was killed in the Holocaust. The granddaughter lives in Austria today, but all her endeavors to get an Austrian passport in addition to her British one have been unsuccessful. The case has an additional twist: The emigrée’s daughter and granddaughter would have been entitled to Austrian citizenship (albeit single, not dual citizenship) if the grandmother had been a man or a single mother. The existing rules mean children born prior to 1983 and in wedlock of female emigrées and exiles cannot inherit their mother’s Austrian nationality.

Similar stories reached Krisper from Australia and the US. “For me, that underlined how important this issue is for many people out there,” said Krisper. While Germany already has a law allowing double citizenship in these cases in place, Austria lags behind, she criticized.

Not to be outdone, Kurz’s ÖVP, newly free from coalition discipline, also initiated their own legislation this July. As a result, three bills on the matter currently exist – the NEOS bill by Krisper, the SPÖ bill and the new ÖVP bill – while the other parties in the Nationalrat (National Assembly), the FPÖ and Liste Jetzt!, have also signaled their support.

One Step Away

In order to make sure that party tactics won’t triumph over substance this time, Interior Minister Wolfang Peschorn has invited all parties for talks to produce a unified draft. According to Marie-Theres Egyed from the Austrian daily Der Standard, an agreement seems likely, in which case the bill will probably still reach and pass Parliament this month – before the elections on September 29.

As Krisper put it: “Austria has a special responsibility toward the victims of National Socialism and their descendants.” Eight decades after the outbreak of World War II, this law would be a step toward living up to this responsibility.

This article was made possible by a donation from David Stein. If you would like to support our work, please subscribe or select an option from the donation box below. Thanks again, David Stein!

This story was updated on September 14 for greater accuracy upon feedback from one of the people quoted in the text. Thanks for reaching out.

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Born 1991, studied Journalism, History and International Affairs. After stints with Cafébabel in Paris and Arte in Strasbourg, he is now working as managing editor and COO for Metropole in Vienna. Fields of expertise are politics, economics, culture, and history.
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